The Other Day

by Joshua Glazer Part house, part techno, part electro, and all minimal, German producer Steve Bug might just be the heir apparent to minimal techno forerunner Richie Hawtin. But while Hawtin made his name by stripping down the acid house sound of the early '90s, Bug brings together a broader range of influences before paring the elements down to arrangements so full of space you could drive a bus through them. Take the opener, "Loverboy," as a prime example. A single pulsing synth note and kick drum gradually build into a three-note sequence with a kick-snare rhythm. By the time the quarter-note bass comes in, you're swaying to the beat, but you don't even notice until it drops back down and you stop. The tease is paid off by a single piano note that within this context might as well be the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Once you understand why this sort of skeletal music works, it is easy to find the groove within the new wave strut of "White Times" or the Ectomorph-inspired electro of "The Spray." The method might not work quite as well with the plodding hip-hop beats found on "The Truth" and "The Switch," but it only takes one measure of the "Funkytown"-inspired cowbell on "Electric Blue" to make you realize that despite the over-the-top orchestration of the Lipps Inc. original, it was that simple little bell that had you dancing all along.